Friday, January 22, 2010

Green Lantern Corps #44When I read Green Lantern Corps #43, I suggested that it'd be a good idea to leave the Red Lantern ring on Guy Gardner's finger and let him obliterate the Black Lanterns. At least one of the Green Lanterns has that same idea this issue but I'm willing to be he regrets that decision on the final panel! But I get ahead of myself. The issue picks up with Mogo's arrival on the scene as the various colored Lanterns battle to keep the Black Lanterns from devouring the green power battery. On the surface of the planet, Guy Gardner continues to cut a bloody red path through everything he sees. Upon seeing this, the recently resurrected Kyle Rayner attempts to try and get the ring off of Guy only to be stopped by Lantern Vath who tells Kyle to let Guy go and just stay out of the way. Kyle doesn't listen as he's afraid of the damage the red ring is doing to Guy's mind. Kyle's attempt to reveal that he's not dead to Guy goes sour when Guy believes Kyle's resurrection to be a trick of the Black Lanterns. It's about this time that Mogo reveals why he's actually moved. He says there is a secret directive for him to purge the planet. He does his "purge" by increasing his gravity to suck all the Black Lanterns into his core where they'll totally burned up over and over for all eternity. After the Black Lanterns are gone, a few of the Green Lanterns prep a plan to remove the red ring from Guy's finger only to come face to face with a very red and very pissed off Guy! Showdown time! Blackest Night had a lull right around the midpoint where it seemed like every issue was just more reveals of who was rising but it's definitely turned around and is blasting full steam ahead into awesome now!Score: 4.5 out of 5

Blackest Night: The Flash #2The main power battery may be safe but Keystone City is still under the shadow of Blackest Night in this issue. It begins with the Rogues seeking out Black Lanterns to try and find Captain Cold's risen sister, Golden Glider, who he hopes can be saved. The Rogues have a run in with some risen Rogues including the Mirror Master, Top, Captain Boomerang and eventually Golden Glider. Cut back to Barry who is granted a blue ring for always having hope and instilling that in others. Blue Lantern Flash battles the risen speedsters including Black Lantern Thawne and is doing pretty well. The battle picks up as Wally and Solivar arrive. Back at the Rogue's battle, while Captain Cold faces up to the fact that Golden Glider is dead and isn't coming back, the rest of the Rogues are having their collective rear handed to them. After Cold comes to his senses and takes down Glider, he discovers that the Top and Boomerang are using Weather Wizard as a punching bag. Before Cold can put the freeze on them, the new Captain Boomerang shows up to save his dad. Can he? We'll see in the next, and final, issue!Score: 4 out of 5

Superman/Batman #68While Blackest Night rips through the rest of the DC Universe, Batman/Superman goes off on a tangent with an "aftermath" issue from 2001's Our Worlds at War storyline and it's actually pretty cool! With some amazing art from Ardian Syaf, writer Joe Casey takes us on a fun romp this issue and I like that it's a slightly lighter turn from the rest of the death-laden DCU. We get to see Batman facing down a villain called Death-Man who's gimmick is that he falls into a death-like coma whenever he's captured. Superman meets the financial backer of S.T.A.R. Labs, who may be a shape-shifting alien from the Kryptonian ship revealed last issue. To top it off Clark is attacked at the Planet by a nuclear-powered villain called NRG-X. That's an anagram for something but no one cares because he's just there to smash things and lead our team on a search for whoever hired him to kill Clark. The issue ends with NRG-X coming face to face with a slightly angry Superman who I'm sure will pummel him next issue before heading onto S.T.A.R. Labs to take down the Kryptonian(?) shapeshifter who contracted the hit. This is a good, if rather predictable, story but it's a light fun side-trip that I really enjoyed.Score: 3.5 out of 5